Cleaning Up Coal Ash
For well over a century, power plants across the country have burned coal to generate electricity. And for just as long, leftover coal ash has been dumped in open, unlined pits near the power plant, usually located on a river or lake. Every year, U.S. power plants produce 130 million tons of coal ash, which is the second largest waste stream in the country after municipal garbage.
Coal ash concentrates the toxic heavy metals found in coal, including arsenic, mercury, lead and selenium. Stored in unlined, wet impoundments, coal ash has been leaking these toxics into our groundwater and surface waters for years. Sometimes these impoundments collapse — with disastrous results.
Yet government regulations for coal ash management are either non-existent or sparse, and there is little enforcement of the regulations that do exist. In North Carolina, this lack of oversight — and the complicity between state regulators, elected officials and Duke Energy — came to a boiling point in February 2014 when one of Duke’s coal ash impoundments spilled 39 million tons of ash into the Dan River.
Citizens living near North Carolina’s 33 coal ash impoundments — all of which have leaked — have fought for transparency from Duke and the state, and for cleanup of the pollution that threatens their property value, health and family. Their actions forced this issue into the headlines of news networks and to the forefront of environmental justice conversations in the United States.
Appalachian Voices stood with these communities as we worked for years to compel Duke Energy and the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality to excavate coal ash from all the North Carolina sites and dispose of it either in lined, dry landfills, away from waterways, or by recycling it for concrete or other uses, provided it’s done in a manner that protects public health and the environment.
On Jan. 2, 2020, North Carolina announced a historic settlement with one of the state’s most powerful corporations and polluters, Duke Energy. The settlement requires Duke to move nearly 80 million tons of toxic coal ash at six of its power plants to properly lined landfills onsite or recycle it.
Learn information about specific coal ash impoundments in the South, including health threats and safety ratings:
Additional Resources
Fact sheets, videos, links to academic research, and more
Sign Up to Act
Help us protect the health of our communities and waterways.
Latest News
NC Passes Controversial Solar and Wind Law
A new North Carolina law faces sharp criticism from some advocates of renewable energy, but others are touting it as a win for the solar industry. The law also implements a moratorium on wind development, but an executive directive from the governor placed limits on that moratorium.
White House halts review of mountaintop removal health impacts
The U.S. Department of the Interior ordered the National Academy of Sciences to halt its review of the links between mountaintop removal coal mining and human health impacts.
Third Coal Ash Recycling Site Announced in NC
Duke Energy plans to follow state law and construct a third coal ash recycling plant in Moncure, N.C.
EPA Sampling for PCB Contamination
The EPA is sampling water and soil in Minden, W.Va., where it is suspected that harmful PCB chemicals may be causing high cancer rates in the area.
U.S. Department of Justice Withdraws Funding Request for Kentucky Prison
The Dept. of Justice withdrew a funding request for a proposed prison on former mountaintop removal site in Eastern Kentucky.
New Plan Being Crafted for Two North Carolina National Forests
The U.S. Forest Service is in the process of drafting and receiving public feedback on new plans for preserving protected designations of two national forests in North Carolina.
